Monday, June 2, 2008

MARS: New support for Royal Navy gets one step closer

21 May 08The Ministry of Defence has taken another step towards the procurement of a new fleet of tankers to support the Royal Navy on operations worldwide it was announced today, Wednesday 21 May 2008.

Baroness Taylor, Minister for Defence Equipment & Support, has provided Parliament with details of the four companies who will work alongside the Department over the coming months to finalise the requirement for the new MARS (Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability) Fleet Tankers. The four companies are Fincantieri (Italy); Hyundai (Republic of Korea); Navantia (Spain) and BAE SYSTEMS with BMT DSL and DSME (Republic of Korea).

Following the competition, the Ministry of Defence will make a final decision to select one of the companies to design and build the new ships:

"We have set a worldwide competition for the design and build of these new Fleet Tankers and have now selected four companies with whom we look forward to working to develop our plans further," said Baroness Taylor.

"These four companies have demonstrated the capability and capacity to deliver in the timescales we need. We will be testing their proposals for Value for Money through the competition.

"The new Fleet Tankers being built as part of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability programme will allow the full range of Royal Navy operations to continue around the globe."

"The new Fleet Tankers being built as part of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability programme will allow the full range of Royal Navy operations to continue around the globe."Baroness Taylor, Minister for Defence Equipment & Support

MARS is a major project for Defence, providing future logistic support requirements for the Royal Navy and sea-based support to deployed forces. It will replace a large number of existing Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels. The existing Royal Feet Auxiliary tankers play a vital role in global naval operations by replenishing Royal Navy warships with ship and aircraft fuel, and wider armed forces with fuel and supplies.

The new fleet tankers being built as part of the MARS programme will comply with the highest international environmental standards while also providing a much improved working environment for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel as well as allowing the full range of Royal Navy operations to continue around the globe for 25 years from their launch.

MARS currently consists of three elements: Fleet Tanker, Fleet Solid Support(FSS) and Joint Sea Based Logistic vessels (JSBL). The three classes will be procured incrementally, concentrating initially on the double hulled Fleet Tankers which are urgently required in order to comply with International Maritime environmental standards. The FSS and JSBL vessels are not being committed at this stage, in order to maintain flexibility within the programme. The Fleet Tanker requirement is for up to six ships.

None of the four bidders have indicated to date that they would build Fleet Tankers in the UK. This reflects the fact that UK capacity is taken up by Type 45 and the Future Aircraft Carrier. Later elements of the MARS programme may provide opportunities for UK industry but no decisions have been made on how these later ships will be procured.